A community has rallied round a family after their baby was diagnosed with a brain tumour.

The friends and family of Aaron and Wendy Lambert, of Kestrel Close, Swaffham, are supporting them after their one-year-old daughter, Esme, was diagnosed.

The couple took Esme to the doctors after she had been unwell. Originally the doctor thought she had a fever but Mrs Lambert believed something more was wrong.

On further examination it was found that Esme had a brain tumour and was taken to Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge for an immediate operation to have it removed.

After the operation it was found that traces of the tumour remained and it was discovered to be an Ependymoma tumour.

Esme Lambert. Photo: Lambert Family

Esme will now have to continue a course of chemotherapy for the next year to try and stop the tumour from spreading.

A fundraising page has now been set-up to allow Mr and Mrs Lambert to spend as much time with Esme as possible while also being able to look after her two sisters and brother.

James Mortimer, 32, has known Mrs Lambert since they met at Northgate High School in Dereham when they were 14.

He founded the donation page along with a group of about 15 people.

Also a father of a four-month-old girl he understands how important it is for the family to have time together.

He said: “Watching my friends going through this I just couldn’t sit back and do nothing.

“It pushed me to set-up the Gofundme page with a small target but we reached that in just a week.”

The team started with a target of £2,000 but the total now stands at £3,400. The group hope to allow the family to have as much time together as possible and hope to raise £30,000 to support the family.

The page has amassed almost 1,000 shares across social media.

The head chef of the Marsham Arms, Norwich, added: “We thought that the treatment was going to be short and the operation was going to be a success.

“Ever since the diagnosis the group and the family are trying to do as much fundraising as possible.

“Money and time is going to be quite crucial to them and we want them to be together for the year if not more.”